


Going Down in Lhant History

by Vyc



Series: Time-Strengthened Ties [3]
Category: Tales of Graces, Tales of Graces f
Genre: AU, Childhood, Childhood Arc, Fluff, Gen, Mischief
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-14
Updated: 2013-08-14
Packaged: 2017-12-23 11:59:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,779
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/926140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vyc/pseuds/Vyc
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a week of rain, Asbel knows exactly what he wants to do with his friends to celebrate his freedom from the manor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Going Down in Lhant History

**Author's Note:**

> This is yet another installment in my AU wherein Richard spends nearly a year in Lhant, as opposed to nearly a day. It's basically pure, unadulterated fluff from beginning to end--as are most of the things I write for this 'verse, but you know.

When Asbel woke up one particular morning, he could tell there was something . . . different about it. He wasn't sure what it was, exactly, only that it was definitely different.

He lay back in his bed for a minute, trying to figure things out. Everything _seemed_ the same—he could hear the footsteps of the maids outside his door and, yup, that was Hubert turning pages at his desk. But he knew: there was something missing.

Something like. . . .

Asbel flung the sheets aside and bolted for the window, ignoring Hubert's surprised gasp. He threw the curtains open—and his resulting grin was as brilliant as the sunbeams now flooding their bedroom.

"All _right_!" he cheered. "The rain stopped!"

No more raindrops drumming on the windows and roof, keeping them locked inside—that was what he'd heard! Or . . . hadn't heard. Close enough.

"Uh-huh!" Hubert sounded chipper as he slipped from his chair and padded over to join him. And he liked being stuck inside! "I think it stopped a few hours ago."

"This is great!" Asbel spun around, once again making his brother jump, and nearly dove for the wardrobe. "Come on, Hubert—let's get dressed so we can have breakfast and go outside!"

"Asbel, I'm already dressed. . . ."

He heard Hubert just fine, but, his hands full of the first clothing he could grab, he didn't bother answering. Any time he wasted talking about tiny little details like that would mean more time inside, and that just wasn't something he could put up with.

Today was going to be great, he could already tell!

*

Asbel could hardly keep still at breakfast. He gobbled down his food (ignoring his father's nagging to eat like the son of a lord, not the son of a pig) and was finished way ahead of both Hubert and Richard, even though they typically ate half of what he did. Waiting to be excused was true agony, but at last he was allowed to go. He was out of the room almost before the words were out of his father's mouth; he wasn't about to stick around and see if he was going to change his mind.

"Asbel, wait up!" Hubert called.

"Where are you going?" Richard added.

"Outside! I'm not staying in this boring old place for another minute!" Asbel declared, not slowing his charge for his boots by even a bit.

Richard sounded like he was trying not to laugh when he said, "You really don't like the rain, do you?"

(Asbel didn't mind that Richard thought he was being funny—actually, it made him happy. Richard was still way too serious. Anything that made him laugh was fine by him.)

He spun around to jog backwards. "A little rain is okay." He pulled a face. "But a week of it is _awful_."

"Asbel?"

For that voice, he was willing to stop. When he did, he glanced about and spotted Sophie—on the stairs, right. "Hey, Sophie, we're going outside! Come on!"

"Have you had breakfast yet?" Hubert asked; Sophie nodded.

"Great! Let's go!"

"We're coming as fast as we can," Richard told him, and Asbel checked—yeah, he was smiling about it. Good.

"Well, come _faster_!" Asbel insisted, then sprinted the rest of the way to the boot cupboard to show them how it was done.

He didn't slow down once he was outside, either. Instead, he ran straight past Frederick, yelling out a greeting as he flew by, and only when he was standing in the street that curved around Lhant Manor did he finally come to a sort-of-permanent halt.

"Okay, guys, what should we do first?" Asbel asked once everyone had ( _finally_ ) caught up. "Who's up for a trip to Lhant Hill?"

Sophie raised her hand and Richard smiled. "I am."

"Asbel, it's still wet out. We'll get soaked," Hubert protested.

Asbel waved a hand. "We'll dry. No big deal."

"Hey, bro!"

They all turned to find a boy around Hubert's age running to meet them. Short though he was, what he lacked in height, he made up with enthusiasm.

Asbel grinned. "Hey, Raph! What's up?"

Raph slid to a stop on the wet paving stones. "Bro, you'll never guess what I got down at the port before the rain all started!"

Asbel perked up. There was lots of great stuff you could get at the port and Raph was an expert at picking things up for free. "What?"

"A really long, really strong rope!" Raph spread his arms as far as they went to illustrate.

Asbel's grin returned full force. "All _right_! High five!"

"Oh no." Hubert cringed.

And Richard blinked. "Hubert? What's wrong?"

"Aww, he's still sore about losing the last time, that's all," Asbel told him.

"No, that's not it. It's because we got in trouble. . . ."

Asbel ignored him. His eyes were on Sophie, who had tilted her head to one side.

"'Last time'?" she asked.

"Yeah, the last time we had a tug of war!" Asbel turned to Raph. "You go get the others. I'll catch Sophie up."

"Right! Meet you in the square!" Raph dashed off.

"Asbel, what's a tug of war?"

He turned back to Sophie. "It's where you divide into two teams, each on one side of a line. When somebody yells 'Go,' you pull as hard as you can, and the team that drags everyone across the line wins."

Sophie considered this. "Why?"

"Because it's fun! Who's in?"

Sophie raised her hand again.

"Do you think we should change clothes?" Richard wanted to know. "It sounds a little messy."

"Nah, you'll be fine," Asbel assured him and promptly grinned when Richard raised his hand. "That's the spirit!" He proceeded to turn his attention to Hubert, who was squishing the collar of his shirt in his fingers. "Come on, it was a ton of fun the last time, remember?" 

"But our father was really angry. . . ." Still, hesitantly, Hubert raised his hand.

"Thanks, Hubert." Asbel clapped him on the back. "Now let's get going!"

"What about Cheria?" Sophie asked.

Asbel—paused. "Eh . . . she's probably too sick to play. We'll go get her later, all right?"

"She'll be really mad if you leave her out again," Hubert pointed out.

"Only if she finds out," he answered back and started off for the square, leaving the others to follow.

Unfortunately, Cheria was part of the group of kids waiting for them. Her face lit up as they came into view and she waved. "Asbel! Everyone! Are you ready for the tug of war?"

"Uh, you bet!" Asbel said, pretending he didn't know Hubert was giving him a reproachful look behind him. "Have you picked a spot yet?"

"Nah, we thought we'd let you do it, bro," Raph told him, heading over to hand him the coiled rope. "You always pick the best ones."

Asbel immediately straightened up. What a compliment to get in front of Richard and Sophie!

"Hey, thanks," he said, trying to sound like this was no big deal. He began scanning the area, making sure to demonstrate just how much thought and attention to detail the job required. "Hmm. . . . Let me see. . . ."

Then he found it: the perfect place. It was terrific, everything the backdrop to a tug of war should be. Their game was going to go down in Lhant history and it was all because of him. 

Already imagining the awe of kids for years to come, he pointed. "Right there!"

"Oh man."

"Sweet!"

"Asbel, we're going to get filthy!" Cheria protested, just as he had expected, because the perfect place? Was over the biggest mud puddle in the square. 

Now _this_ was how tug of war was meant to be played!

"Hey, you don't have to join in if you don't want to," he told her.

"But—! _Ohh_!" Cheria actually stomped her foot. "Asbel, you're impossible!"

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Richard asked, sounding very dubious.

"Sure I'm sure!" Asbel gave him a big grin. "Tug of war is way more exciting when you raise the stakes."

"Well . . . all right."

"Okay, now we've gotta decide who's on my team and who's on Asbel's," Raph declared.

"Hey, why are you team leader?" Violet demanded from behind him, her hands on her hips.

"Because I brought the rope," Raph told her, and, a little grumbling aside, that settled that.

"I want to be on Asbel's team," Sophie said and went to stand a little closer to him.

"I do, too," Richard did the same.

"M-Me too!" Cheria was quick to add.

"Come on, _somebody's_ gotta be on my team," said poor Raph.

"Um, I will," Hubert offered and went to join him.

"Thanks, Hubert."

"Cheria, are you sure you're okay to be playing?" Asbel asked as Violet and the others sorted themselves out.

"Of _course_ I'm fine. I had lots of time to rest when it was raining, so don't you dare leave me out!" Cheria folded her arms.

"Geez, okay." Asbel gave Richard an exasperated look, then turned back to her. "But the minute you start coughing, you gotta stop, okay?"

"Fine." Cheria's arms were folded and her lower lip was pushed out. It was obvious she'd swallow her tongue before letting even a hint of a cough past her lips. Sheesh.

After some more debate, the two teams were finalized and they all headed for the puddle. Everyone lined up, with him and Raph facing each other on either edge of the muck and their teammates behind them. Staring him down, Asbel got a really good, really strong grip on the rope. There was no way they were going to lose!

"Okay, everybody ready?" he asked and got a ragged sort of agreement from the other kids. He took a deep breath and yelled, "Onetwothree _go_!"

Immediately, he was yanked off his feet—by his own team.

"Whoa!" he yelled as he was steadily dragged backwards. 

The other team, hollering their heads off, slipped and skidded and slid straight into the massive mud puddle in no time at all. It was the shortest match ever, even shorter than that time they'd all gotten together and challenged a bunch of teenagers. What had happened?

Amidst the groans and complaints of her team, Violet sat up and spat mud. Her voice rose above all the others as she accused, "No fair, no fair!" 

She pointed and Asbel looked over his shoulder. Behind him, Richard was picking himself up from the ground, and Cheria and Ilene were staring at—

"No fair having Sophie on your team!" Violet went on. "She's too old!"

"Yeah, not cool, bro," Raph added, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. All it did was smear the mud around in different places.

Sophie tilted her head. "Did our team win?"

"Yeah, uh." Oh geez. How was he supposed to handle this? "Sure looks it."

"Then why are they angry?"

Asbel took her by the arm and steered her off to one side. "Sometimes it's not so good to win by a lot. Then the other team gets cranky. Uhh. . . ." He couldn't just tell her not to play anymore—it wasn't her fault she was bigger and stronger than everyone else. But—

Oh, he was a _genius_. Two brilliant ideas in a row! "It's okay, Sophie—you can be our referee!"

"Referee?" Sophie gave him her blank look.

"Yeah!" He led her to a point at the edge of the puddle halfway between the two teams. "It's a _super_ -important job where you have to say who wins each round and make sure everything's fair. You can't have a real game of tug of war without a referee, right, guys?"

Luckily for him, his friends were all on the same page.

"Right!"

"Yeah!"

"Mm-hmm!"

Sophie listened to their agreement, then turned a solemn expression on him. "Okay, Asbel. I'll be your referee."

Phew. He gave her a relieved grin. "Thanks, Sophie. I knew we could count on you." He went back to his place, picked up the rope, and faced the leader of the other team. "Okay, Raph—we're gonna show you we can beat the pants off you even without Sophie!"

"Yeah right!" Raph grinned right back as everyone fell back in line. "Come at me, bro!"

"All right, Sophie, say 'one-two-three-go'!"

"'One-two-three-go,'" Sophie repeated obediently and Asbel _pulled_.

. . . Unfortunately, he and his team soon discovered that determination alone was not enough to overcome the loss of their strongest team member. They shouted, they dug their heels into the cobblestone edges, they hung off the rope like dead weights, but one by one, they were dragged forward until, last of all and shrieking the whole way, Cheria was pulled feet-first into the muck.

"Ohh, _gross_!" Cheria scrambled to her feet.

"Asbel's team lost," Sophie said helpfully.

"You bet they did!" Raph cheered. "Go Team Raph!"

"Hey, that name sucks!" Bennie protested from the other end of the rope.

Asbel listened to the sudden, intense squabble from where he sat in the middle of the puddle, ignoring the way the cold water was really starting to freeze his butt. Sure, they had lost—but this was more like it! This was way better than being stuck inside, and anyway, they'd totally win the next time.

"Here, Asbel."

He looked up to see Richard holding out his hand. His friend had done a great job for a beginner and had actually managed to keep on his feet. Aside from some mud splatters up his boots and a bit on his legs, he was pretty much clean.

"Huh? Oh, thanks, Richard." Asbel took his hand with a smile—which morphed into an expression of unholy deviousness the half-second before he yanked with all his strength.

Richard let out a yell and his free hand splayed out and nearly whacked Asbel in the face. He managed to stop his fall, but only partly, and not enough to save himself from getting absolutely filthy. 

Asbel, having managed to stay upright despite Richard's collapse against him, now nearly fell over backwards from laughter. "That was _great_ , Richard! Oh, wow, were you surprised!"

Richard sat back, looking bewildered. "But—I'm on your team."

Asbel swallowed a few more giggles and sat up. He gave Richard's knee a pat. "Hey, it was just a joke. You were too clean. The whole point is to get as dirty as you can, right?"

He looked up at the others, and while some of them nodded . . . Cheria had her hands on her hips and was looking _angry_.

"That's a terrible thing to do!" she scolded him. "It wasn't funny at all! Now you've hurt Richard's feelings!"

"Come on, Cheria, Richard knows it was a prank. Right, Richard?"

He glanced at his friend—but Richard stayed silent. He sat there in the mud, his face turned away.

Asbel's heart dropped. ". . . Richard?"

No response.

. . . He was really starting to worry now. He got up to stand in front of Richard; his friend turned his head away again.

"I'm sorry, Richard. I didn't mean anything by it. I was just messing around." Feeling thoroughly ashamed now, Asbel held out his hand. "Here, c'mon. I swear I won't do it again, all right?"

For a moment longer, Richard was silent. Then his hand snapped out, fastened around Asbel's wrist, and he heaved.

Asbel faceplanted against Richard, who fell backwards into the soupy puddle with a splash. Now everyone was laughing, Richard most of all.

"The whole point is to get as dirty as you can," Richard told him gleefully.

Asbel was nearly wheezing with laughter. "I thought you were really mad—don't scare me like that, you jerk!" He punctuated his insult by skimming some water at Richard. His limbs were too laughter-weak for a proper splash, though, and so all he managed was to sprinkle a few drops across Richard's chest.

For just a second, Richard looked startled—probably nobody had ever splashed him before. Then, he tried smacking some water right back. It didn't go so well. "Hah!"

"You suck," Asbel told him with a grin. "It's like this." He cupped his hand in the air and illustrated . . . by sending a whole wave right at Raph.

" _Hey_!"

They never did get back to tug of war. Once the inevitable splash fight really got going, they attracted the attention of the nearby adults and everyone was dragged back home. Asbel got the worst telling off he'd had in weeks for ruining his clothes and for dragging his friends into his shenanigans. 

When that was done, though, and on the way to his father-enforced bath, he whispered to Richard, "Worth it."

Richard's quickly hidden smile was the icing on the cake.


End file.
